Captain James Cook (1728-1779) and his crew made their first landfall on the mainland of Australia at a Botany Bay now known as the Kurnell Peninsula. Mapping the East Coast of Australia he named it New South Wales and claimed it for Great Britain.

This prepared the way for the establishment of a new penal colony. The British Crown Colony of New South Wales began a settlement at Port Jackson by Captain Arthur Phillip on 26 Jan 1788. This date was later to become Australia's national day, Australia Day.

The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783), also known as the American War of Independence, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen united former British colonies on the North American continent and ended in a global war between several European great powers. The war was the culmination of the political American Revolution, whereby the colonists and their allies overthrew British rule. In 1775, Revolutionaries seized control of each of the thirteen colonial governments, set up the unifying Second Continental Congress, and formed a Continental Army. The following year, they formally declared their independence (04 Jul 1776) as a new nation, the United States of America (USA).

Amongst its founding fathers was the Puritan polymath, Benjamin Franklin (born 17 Jan 1706 Boston, Massachusetts, USA, died 17 Apr 1790) a major figure in the 'age of Enlightenment' who invented Lightening Conductors and who's theories helped harness the power of Electricity. Franklin influenced the founding of the USA as a secular nation, independent of any church. State freedom of religion had not been seen since the 4th century, and the people's ability to choose their religion would allow religious diversity to flourish. The 1st Amendment to the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights expressly prohibits the US Congress from making laws 'respecting an establishment of religion' or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, laws that infringe the freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to peaceably assemble, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The Siege or Battle of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by General Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by General Lord Cornwallis. It proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, as the surrender of Cornwallis? army prompted the British government to eventually negotiate an end to the conflict.

Health

1788

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England

In the latter half of his life, George III suffered from recurrent and, eventually, permanent mental illness. Now generally thought that he suffered from the blood disease porphyria. He went to Cheltenham Spa to recuperate. It was the furthest he had ever been from London, just short of 100 miles (150 km) but his condition worsened.

History

Between 1789 and 1799

France

The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in France. The absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy was deposed for government under Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights. There was violent turmoil, vast bloodshed and repression during the Reign of Terror, and the subsequent French Revolutionary Wars of 1792 to 1802.

As early as 1791 monarchies of Europe watched the developments in France with alarm, and considered whether they should intervene, either in support of Louis XVI or to take advantage of the chaos in France.

France declared war against Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and the Habsburg Monarchy on 20 Apr 1792, and tried and executed the French king Louis XVI on 21 Jan 1793. This united all Europe, including Spain, Naples, and the Netherlands against the revolution. Even Great Britain, initially sympathetic to the French legislative assembly, had by now joined the First Coalition against France (who had declared war against the Kingdom of Great Britain on 1 Feb 1793) and armies were raised against France on all its borders. The newly formed USA would also become embroiled in the war.

History

Dec 1798

Houses of Parliament, the Palace of Westminster (the King's Palace), Westminster, Middlesex, England

William Pitt the Younger (b. 28 May 1759 d. 23 Jan 1806) became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 and in his budget of Dec 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars. introduced a new graduated income tax beginning at 2d in the Pound (0.83%) on incomes over £60 and up to a max. of 2s on incomes of over £200. Pitt hoped the new Income Tax would raise £10 million but receipts in 1799 totaled just £6 million

History

1800

England

The Act of Union (1800/1) merged the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and England's outstanding claim to the crown of France resulting from Henry V's victory at the Battle of Agincourt was finally abandoned.

History

21 Oct 1805

Cape Trafalgar, Andalucia, Spain

Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeats French and Spanish ships off Cape Trafalgar. The Franco-Spanish fleet lost twenty-two ships, without a single British vessel being lost.

The French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte and Michel Ney were defeated by those of the Seventh Coalition, including a Prussian army under the command of Gebhard von Blücher and an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon abdicated, surrendering to the British, and was exiled to Saint Helena, South Atlantic Ocean, where he died in 1821.